‘We do not negotiate with terrorists’ – Defense Sec.

GAZMIN PRESENTS DND BUDGET IN SENATE HEARING: Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Voltaire Gazmin explains in detail his agency’s proposed budget for the year 2013 during a Senate hearing Tuesday, September 11, 2012. The DND is seeking approval of its proposed budget for next year to ensure funding for its military upgrade program and establish an efficient disaster response system. (PRIB Photo by Joseph Vidal)

MANILA – Despite Abu Sayyaf’s recent threat to behead one of the two German hostages, the government remains firm that they will not make any negotiations.

Asked about the P250-million ransom requested by the group in exchange for the two Germans’ freedom, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the government will not entertain any calls for negotiations.

“We do not negotiate with terrorists,” he said.

On earlier reports, the Abu Sayyaf warned that it will  carry out its threat in 15 days.

This is unless ransom is paid and Berlin stops support for the US-led campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIS).

“What the Abu Sayyaf is doing is like propaganda, so that the government will give in to their demands. We will not be intimidated by these gestures and actions,” he said in a separate radio interview, adding that the group has weakened and is contained in small areas.

“They saw what the ISIS has been doing, so they used that to increase the ransom,” Gazmin said, in reaction to the photos released by SITE showing a masked militant with a machete beside a gray-haired Caucasian man.